The likelihood that the Bank of England will pump more money into the economy
faded yesterday after Britain’s dominant services sector grew at its fastest
pace in eight months during April.

The Markit/CIPS Services purchasing managers’ index, which measures the level
of activity in the sector, rose from 52.4 in March to 52.9 last month,
supported by the strongest increase in new business in nearly a year. It is
the fourth month in a row that the index has been above the 50 mark, which
separates growth and contraction.

The data, which surpassed market expectations of a flat reading, comes